


Somebody That I Used to Know

by peculiarjuliar



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Teenage!Ben, Teenage!Poe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-15 21:59:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5801770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peculiarjuliar/pseuds/peculiarjuliar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seventeen years before Kylo Ren captures Poe Dameron on Jakku, Ben Solo accompanies his mother on a diplomatic visit to the capital of the New Republic, Ejendrall. It is a trip he will never forget.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ejendrall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seventeen years before Kylo Ren reconnects with Poe Dameron on Jakku, Ben Solo accompanies his mother on a diplomatic visit to the capital of the New Republic, Ejendrall. It is a trip he will never forget.

The collar of his dress shirt made his neck itch but he knew better than to reach up and give it a scratch in the presence of Viceroy Ugden, Senator Tekka, and Senator Lyscyth. If his mother returned and saw him fidgeting, she would have a well-intended but long-winded lecture for him later. Being the son of a former princess, senator, and war general meant that it was imperative for him to develop strong diplomatic skills. Scratching one’s neck in public did not make the list of desirable attributes. Ben Solo wished for the hundredth time that he had been allowed to stay home on Nim Ordall instead of accompanying Leia to Ejendrall. It was not that disliked spending time with his mother. On the contrary, he enjoyed being with her immensely for Leia was his favorite person in the galaxy. But he had no interest in the political world that his mother held so dear. All of the meetings, the debates, the hushed conversations, the backroom deals -- none of it had any appeal to him. He was fairly certain that it held little appeal most twelve-year-olds but that was no excuse in his family. His grandmother had been elected Queen of Naboo at age fourteen. Leia had been elected Senator of Alderaan at age sixteen. Politics at a young age ran in his blood just as the Force from his grandfather flowed through him as well. His mother was only looking out for him by insisting that he come with her to the New Republic Senate. It was just so incredibly dull and his shirt was growing more irritating by the minute.

Ben tried to focus on the conversation that was happening around him -- the Viceroy and Senators were discussing the Rumien Drought and its devastating impact on the planet’s crop harvest. The amount of aid the planet was to receive from the New Republic was up for debate on the Senate Floor soon and it seemed to be a point of contention between a number of politicians. Ben clenched his jaw tightly to keep from yawning visibly. Leia had left him with Senator Tekka while she met with Mon Mothma -- the primary reason they had come to Ejendrall in the first place -- and told him to soak up the politics and to practice being diplomatic. Knowing his mother, Ben was sure that she considered her requests to be engaging and fun activities. He could just imagine her at twelve-years-old, following her father around the Galactic Senate and nearly exploding with excitement. His aversion to formal events was one of the few things Ben inherited from his father. Han hated hobnobbing with politicians and socialites just as much as Ben did.

Glancing back around the room, Ben noticed Senator Tekka eyeing him with a bemused smile on his face. Senator Tekka turned to his peers and excused himself from the conversation before moving to stand next to Ben. “I think I have had enough politics for the moment, my young friend. I doubt that your mother will be back to collect you for some time yet. Would you care to join me for lunch?”

Ben nodded in thankful agreement. He had been paired with the Senator during past trips to Ejendall; Leia trusted Senator Tekka from her days in the Galactic Senate. Ben liked Senator Tekka for the most part. The man was understanding of Ben’s reluctance to draw attention to himself and he had a way of explaining things in an manner that made them interesting even to a twelve-year-old who would rather be practicing moving objects around with the Force. He followed Senator Tekka through a maze of hallways until they reached the large corridor that spanned the entire perimeter of the Senate Building. The passageway was ornately designed with sculpted columns lining the outer wall leaving gaps open to the outside air and sunlight. It was almost always warm and sunny here on Ejendrall, though not hot and miserable like on Tatooine. Ben could still scarcely believe that Uncle Luke had lived the first nineteen years of his life on that rain-forsaken planet. The one time that Ben had visited Tatooine, he had discovered that he had deep-seated hatred of sand and vowed never to return.

“Tell me, Ben,” Senator Tekka asked as they walked, “how goes your Jedi training with your uncle?”

Ben took a moment to respond, his hand reaching up idly to scratch his itching neck. Realizing what he was doing, he dropped his arm quickly and replied, “It’s fine. Uncle Luke comes by to work with me when he can and I practice every day on my own.”

“Have you had any training with a lightsaber yet?”

“Yes,” Ben answered, “I have one at home that I use for practice. Uncle Luke says I must build my own when the time is right, though.” They had reached the dining commons now and Ben could smell a variety of delicious foods. His stomach gurgled in anticipation. He was always hungry these days. Leia said it was because he was growing a lot -- he had added two inches in height in the past few months alone. Ben hoped he would be tall like his father and like his grandfather, Vader, and not petite like his mother and uncle. He was still shorter than nearly every other boy his age and he greatly disliked having to look up at people.

Senator Tekka raised his eyebrows in interest. “Ah, yes, that is a Jedi tradition, isn’t it? I had quite forgotten.” He guided Ben over to a line of people waiting to get food. Senators did not usually eat in the dining commons as it was open to all employees of the government, from the cleaning staff to the Senate scribes to the peacekeepers who patrolled the Senate halls to keep order. The higher end politicians had access to fancier dining establishments. “I thought this location would be a welcome interruption in our busy day as diplomats,” the Senator said with a twinkle in his eye. “I believe we must serve ourselves,” he continued on. 

The line moved quickly and soon Ben found himself looking through protective glass at a wide array of dishes. Being Leia Organa Solo’s son meant that he had tried a vast number of different cuisines over the years and he recognized several that he liked before him. He made a few selections and then found himself holding a plate piled high with food. It was more food than Leia would have liked him to have -- “you can eat like a Bantha at home, Ben, but you must dine politely in public,” she always said -- and, to be honest, it was more food than Ben meant to have on his plate. Senator Tekka just laughed when it saw it, though. “I remember those days,” he said. “It’s been a long time but I remember being so ravenous that I could have eaten an entire Tauntaun.”

Ben felt relieved by the Senator’s acceptance. It really had been an accident that he had such a large portion on his plate. He followed the man to an empty table and they sat down. For the next few minutes, they focused on eating. Ben knew he was hungry when they arrived but he was surprised by how much he was able to eat after all. Before long, his huge plate had dwindled to a few forkfuls of leftovers and his stomach rested happily, stretched to its full capacity. He found himself looking around the large open area at the variety of individuals patronizing the dining commons. Lifeforms of all species, shapes, and sizes filled the noisy room. Sitting at a table next to Ben’s was a female Mon Calamari chatting on a comm link about what time her kids needed to be picked up from school. Two young human males ate at another nearby table, both wearing the maroon uniform of the New Republic Starfleet and laughing loudly. One was exclaiming to the other, “Listen, buddy, the first chance they give me to fly anything other than a kriffing speeder, I’ll prove it to you!”

Ben smiled. The man sounded a lot like his father. Han was always boasting about his piloting skills to anyone who would listen. One of Ben’s favorite things was when Uncle Luke visited and indulged in some wine because then he and Han would debate as to who was the more skilled pilot. Luke would bring up the Death Star. Han would bring up the Kessel Run and claim that using the Force was cheating. Luke didn’t engage in such frivolous conversations much anymore so it was a treat when he loosened up upon occasion. Lately, all that Luke had been talking about was Ben coming to train full-time with him. It was something that everyone knew was inevitable but the timing was still being decided. Ben loved studying the Force -- loved feeling it course throughout his body and mind -- but he balked at the idea of leaving his parents, his home, and the Resistance. He would be giving up all he had ever held dear in order to become a better Jedi and he was afraid that it might not be worth it. After all, Uncle Luke rarely seemed happy. 

Senator Tekka’s comm link buzzed. “Excuse me, Ben,” he said before standing up and answering the call. Ben stood, also, and collected his and the senator’s plates to take back to the dish return. His stomach ached a little as he walked, protesting the amount of food he had stuffed into it in such a short period of time. The itch on his neck returned and he took great pleasure in scratching it fiercely since he was away from all of the politicians who might be scandalized by his action. Senator Tekka waved at him from their table and he hurried back. “I have had something important come up this afternoon, Ben,” Senator Tekka explained. “I am sorry that I must cut our time together short. Your mother is still in her meeting so I have arranged for you to stay with a friend of mine, Senator Nahrim.”

Groaning inwardly, Ben nodded politely. He really did not need a babysitter to look after him. Not only had he been to this very Senate Building numerous times in the past, but he had grown up surrounded by warriors and heroes who had taught him how to defend himself. He could also think of a number of unsavory places that he had been with Han that topped the New Republic Senate on the danger scale. He didn’t mind spending time with Senator Tekka but having yet another adult keep an eye on him as a favor to his mother sounded awful. Despite the unpleasantness of the situation, he followed the senator back through the maze of hallways to the inner chambers of the Senate Building where he was deposited with Senator Nahrim’s assistant. He bid Senator Tekka goodbye and sat back on the soft couch to wait for his mother.

Within fifteen minutes, Ben could no longer sit still. He tried meditating but the assistant had a habit of clicking her nails on the armrest of her chair and it made focusing on anything else difficult. His lunch rested heavy in his gut and he finally worked up the courage to say, “I’ll be right back -- I'm going to take a little walk in the hall outside, if that is alright with you.”

The assistant barely looked up from the dossier on her lap. “Go ahead,” she said. “Just don’t go far.”

Ben had to force himself to walk and not sprint for the door. Once on his own in the hall, Ben mentally retraced the path he had just taken with Senator Tekka from the large corridor along the perimeter of the building. Visualizing the way in his mind, Ben headed back toward the fresh air. It was such a relief to be alone. Being around so many people with so many rules in play was exhausting. He certainly didn’t feel the surge of energy from engaging with people that Leia talked about all the time. She would come home from a debate or a meeting with more vigor in her step than when she left. He would come home from giving a speech in class at school and need to take a nap. He could not imagine living this diplomatic life every day as his mother had from childhood.

Having reached the outer passageway, Ben stood by a gap in the columns and took several deep breaths of the fresh Ejendrall air. The discomfort in his stomach softened a little as the breeze tossed his hair across his face and around his ears. The corridor was quiet now and Ben closed his eyes and let his mind center on the Force. A sense of calm settled around him and he stayed frozen in place for a long while. He could sense people as they walked by, occasionally, but no one interrupted him for which he was grateful. Eventually, though, Ben became aware that something about the passageway was off. It was devoid of foot traffic noise now, seemingly empty, but Ben could feel multiple presences around him. Immediately, he knew something was wrong. To his right, he sensed something approaching him. Letting his instincts take over, Ben wrenched open his eyes are darted to the left. A hand grabbed at his shoulder, tugging at the stiff jacket that he wore over his high necked shirt. Ben’s view of the corridor shifted as he was pulled backwards and then thrust to the floor on his stomach. More hands grasped his struggling body, overpowering his small frame, and a heavy bag was pulled over his head.

Behind him, Ben heard a loud yell. “Hey! What the hell are you doing?!” Footsteps sounded, running, up the hall toward him. The beep of a Comm link. “East Perimeter Corridor! I need backup! There’s a kid --”

A blaster fired and Ben heard a body hit the ground. Terror washed through him and he tried to break free again. He began to scream for help in the hopes that someone else would hear and do something. Sudden pain roared through him momentarily as something heavy crashed into his head. Then he slipped into blissful unconsciousness.

_____

Ben came to slowly, the pain in his head beginning as a dull ache on the edge of his consciousness and grew to a pounding that brought tears to his eyes. Somewhere nearby he could hear the roar of an engine. He could feel that he was in a moving craft and it was nauseating. It was a while before he was able to move even the slightest amount. Finally, he cracked open his eyes and was met darkness. His breath felt stifled and he realized that he must still be wearing a hood over his head. Experimenting with moving more parts of his body, trying his best to ignore the sick sensation that rolled over him every time that he did so, Ben found both his wrists to be locked in binders. Attempting to raise his bound arms up to his face to remove the hood proved difficult. There wasn’t much room for movement wherever he was and there was a heavy object lying next to him which complicated the maneuver even more. After a few tries, however, Ben managed to grasp an edge of the cloth and drag it down and away from his body.

Blinking rapidly, Ben let his eyes adjust to the dim light of the tiny compartment in which he was imprisoned. It was a storage hold of some kind -- most likely belonging to a small landcraft judging from its size and layout. It clearly wasn’t intended to carry more than a handful of boxes and Ben had to fight the urge to panic at being trapped in such a small closed in space. His vision was blurred and he could feel blood crusted in his eyebrows and sticking to his forehead. The nausea was overwhelming and Ben cursed himself for eating so much at lunch. It hurt to think. It hurt to do anything. He just wanted to sleep. Sleeping was out of the question, however, because he knew he most likely had a concussion and because he needed to find a way out of this predicament.

Looking to the side, Ben was surprised to see that the object next to him was actually a body. It took him a while to focus his gaze enough to make out facial features but eventually his brain complied. With a start, he recognized the young pilot from the dining commons and for a long moment, Ben thought the man was dead. It must have been the pilot that saw his abduction and stepped up to help and then was gunned down by the blaster. And now Ben was stuck next to a corpse, most likely soon to become one himself. Then he saw the man’s chest lift in inhalation followed by a shallow exhale and Ben let out a shuddering gasp of his own. Thank the Force, the man was alive.

Ben reached out with his bound hands and touched two fingers to the groove in the pilot’s neck. There was a steady pulse. He watched the man’s chest rise and fall a few more times just to be sure. The pilot looked very young, though he must have been at least eighteen in order to enlist in the New Republic Starfleet. His black hair was cropped short in a military style and his skin, though darkly tan, seemed pale. His maroon uniform was marred by a black stain in the center of his chest. It must have been where the stunning blast had hit him, Ben thought. He wasn’t sure for how long people were affected by a stun blast but the man didn’t look as though he was going to wake up anytime soon. If Ben was going to get out of here, he was going to have to do so on his own.

Pushing past the headache that was definitely growing worse inside his skull, Ben began to check the walls for a release latch that would open the lid to the storage compartment. It was both difficult and excruciating work and Ben had to stop every few seconds to take a deep breath to keep the nausea at bay. After thoroughly examining all of the walls, Ben determined that the only way out was from above and accessed only from the outside. Laying back down next to the unconscious pilot, Ben felt a wave of panic cresting all around him and he managed to prop himself up just in time to vomit all over himself. A foul stench filled the small space immediately and set Ben to gagging all over again. His shirt was ruined. But then again, he was probably ruined as well. Leia was going to kill him.

Leia! Ben felt stupid for not thinking of Leia before. He still had the Force so he could at least reach out and tell her what had happened. Dropping his head back down to the metal floor, Ben closed his eyes and tried to locate the Force. It was there, he felt it but he couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around it. He tried centering himself -- letting all of the fear and panic disappear from his thoughts -- but he could not find calm. Every time he reached out to the Force, his head hurt even more. Frustration crashed over him and hot tears spilled down his cheeks. He slammed his feet against the wall, over and over again, letting his anger take over. Why couldn’t he reach the Force?! All of the times that he didn’t need it, there it was -- pliable and obtainable. But now, when he needed it the most, it was impossible to control! His head was swimming again, spinning wildly, keeping him from regaining focus.

The craft suddenly came to a stop and the roaring engine died to a short-lived whine, startling Ben out of his fit. He stopped kicking the wall immediately. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and he tried to steady his breathing. He had to be ready when his abductors opened the hatch. He had to be quick and sure with his footing. He had to get away because he was on his own. The adrenaline helped to contain his emotions and took the edge off of his pain. Positioning was difficult but crucial if his escape was to be successful. Rolling to his side was impossible without ending up partially on top of the pilot so Ben moved carefully so as not to hurt the man as he turned. He could feel his right elbow digging into the other man’s chest as he transferred his weight to the side. Quickly, he slid back into the space he had just vacated, only this time on his stomach. From there, he wiggled up until he was on his hands and knees. There was nothing in the storage space to use as a weapon. He was just going to have to make a run for it. He felt terrible for leaving the pilot behind but there was no way that he would be able to assist the man due to the circumstances.

Steps echoed from the ceiling and the sound of a key turning in a lock trickled down into the tiny compartment. Ben maneuvered into to a squatting position, his head swirling harder as it rose in altitude. His muscles burned in anticipation. There was a loud grating noise and suddenly the lid to the space was removed and Ben launched himself upwards and out of the hold. He tucked his knees into his chest and somersaulted past the figures waiting above. He almost passed out when he landed -- his concussed brain protesting the acrobatics -- but he pushed through and began running. His vision still rolled before him, unreliable and wavy, but he could discern that he was in a small landcraft shuttle. He was at its doors in no time and burst out into a large hangar. A large transport ship rested in the middle of the room, its gangplank down. There was an entryway to the hangar on the far side and Ben sprinted toward it. A handful of people were in the room and they moved to stop Ben from reaching the door. Once again, multiple individuals grabbed him and held him fast despite his struggles. Ben howled in frustration and fear. He had to get away or else help would never come for him or the pilot.

“Going somewhere?” a voice asked from behind him. “But you just got here.”

Ben continued to flail in the arms of his captors. He wasn’t going to give up. 

“I would have thought that the son of such a powerful and brave couple would be able to keep from getting sick on little shuttle ride.”

Ben tried to ignore the taunting. They were just words. He couldn’t afford to get angry -- he needed to keep his wits about him in order to find another escape route and opportunity. The hood was suddenly dropped back over his head and people holding him started pushing him in the direction in which he knew the transport to be. Fear pierced his heart again. They were taking him off planet! The farther he was from Leia, the harder it would be to communicate with her via the Force...although the Force wasn’t consorting with him right now anyway so it made little difference in the end. 

“What about the other one?” a new voice asked. “Should I dispose of him now?”

Ben strained his ears to listen for a response as he was ushered up the gangplank.

“Load him in with the boy. I’d rather wait until we reach our destination to kill him. No need to leave a trail of bodies for them to follow.”

Ben sighed deeply in relief that the pilot was being spared, at least for now. The man’s only crime was trying to help him and he didn’t deserve to die for that. He attempted to memorize the path that his captors led him along but his head throbbed too much and he felt as though he needed to vomit again. Brought to an abrupt halt, Ben heard the groan of metal doors being opened and he realized that he was about to be loaded into yet another storage hold. He lashed out with his bound fists and struck the person nearest to him hard in the throat. In the next moment, he kicked wildly with his right foot and connected with another person’s stomach. Hands grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and shoved him forward. Ben fell, landing hard on the metal surface down below. His shoulder popped loudly and he screamed in pain. Someone laughed from up above. “Look out!” they called in mock warning. Seconds later, something heavy landed just to the left of Ben -- it had to be the pilot, he thought -- and then the doors slammed shut above. Ben couldn’t raise his arms high enough to remove the hood. He could hear the sound of engines roaring to life. The pain in his shoulder challenged the pain in his head for dominance and he flirted with the idea of passing out. He was trapped and injured with an unconscious man for whom he was responsible because he had gotten the pilot into this mess in the first place. The transport ship took off, knocking Ben off balance and causing him to land on his bad shoulder. Once again, Ben slipped away through an explosion of pain into darkness.


	2. Unknown

The first thing that Ben noticed was the gentle vibrations of the floor underneath his back. It was a familiar humming feeling because, even though Ben didn’t like to fly all that much, he had practically been raised on the Millennium Falcon. In fact, he had even been born upon the Corellian freighter after a particularly intense diplomatic mission involving the creation of the New Republic set off Leia’s labor nearly two weeks early. Threepio and Chewy had been her midwives, ushering Ben into the galaxy aboard a dinghy smuggling vessel that arrived at Nim Ordell -- and its fine medical facilities -- just a tad too late. Ben had said his first word on the Falcon: Unka -- short for Uncle Chewy. He had taken his first steps from the old Dejarik holotable towards his father’s outstretched arms before falling hard onto the metal floor. He still had a slight scar on his upper lip from where he gashed it open that day. Leia had given Han the cold shoulder for a week after the incident. 

Over the years, Ben had spent more time aboard the Millennium Falcon than he had off of it. Whenever his parents got into a heated argument on the bridge -- as was prone to happen with those two -- or his father would announce that it was time Ben learned to fly or fix the hyperdrive or a number of other such stressful situations, Ben would slip away down one of the passageways to the back of the ship where he would lie on his back, feeling the steady hum of the ship’s engines rumble through his bones. It was in this position that he learned to meditate in the Force, matching the ship’s hum to the surge of the Force pulsing through his veins. He could stay on his back like that for hours, meditating and immersing himself in the Force until eventually Han would come through and toss a wrench at him and say, “Get up and make yourself useful -- the cooling system is on the fritz again and I could use another set of hands.” 

It was strange now, though; Ben couldn’t recall why he was on the ground -- he didn’t even remember why he was on a ship at all. What ship was he on? Wasn’t he supposed to be waiting for Leia to get out of her meeting with Mon Mothma? Where was he and why was he here at all? A faint ache began to mingle with the flood of questions springing into his mind. His shoulder throbbed on the corner of his awareness. He couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes yet so he focused on keeping his breathing the same as it had been -- slow and even. As his senses became more alert, the more on-edge he felt. Damn, his shoulder hurt a lot! He had fallen on it, he was pretty sure. Or been pushed. Something was definitely off -- he had a bad feeling about this. What the hell was going on?

“Hey, buddy, are you awake?” came a hushed voice, male and one that Ben did not recognize. Someone moved to Ben’s side, dropping to their knees next to his uninjured right shoulder. 

Ben could feel thoughts tugging at the corner of his mind. Important thoughts. But they refused to form completely. He had been with Senator Tekka and then…

“Buddy, can you hear me? Are you okay?” came the voice again. Worried.

...then he had been kidnapped! A hood thrown over his head. The tiny storage space with the stunned fleet pilot. The transport ship. Being taken off planet! He had to reach Leia! Ben struggled to sit up but fiery pain shot through his left shoulder and down his arm causing him to cry out at its intensity.

“Whoah there, buddy, take it easy!”

Ben’s eyes flew open and his gaze settled on the figure looking down at him. The fleet pilot hovered above him, his eyes round with concern and his heavy eyebrows furrowed together into one. His maroon uniform jacket was missing and he wore a simple white undershirt tucked into his dress pants. He looked very young-- far too young to be in the Republic Fleet. Ben blinked several times, still staring up at the man above him.

“Are you okay?” the older boy asked again. “I think you may have hit your head.” The pilot rested on his knees, to the right of Ben.

That was right, someone had struck him over the head with an object earlier. It was no wonder that his brain felt fuzzy then. Gingerly, Ben tried to sit up again but even the smallest movement set pain radiating through his left side. “My shoulder --” he groaned.

The pilot placed his bound hands on Ben’s good shoulder and pressed down gently. “Stay put, buddy. Your shoulder is most likely dislocated. I’ve seen it happen a number of times -- I’ve even had a dislocated shoulder myself, once, too. The good news is that it is relatively easy to fix. If we can get these binders off, I can pop it back into its socket.”

Dislocated. That made sense. Han had dislocated his shoulder once and Chewy had finagled it back into place while Han swore creatively in a number of languages. “That’s going to hurt a lot to pop it back in, isn’t it?” he asked cautiously.

The young man laughed softly. “It’ll hurt a lot more if we leave it out, believe me. I’m Poe, by the way. Poe Dameron, Republic Starfleet Cadet, at your service.”

“I’m Ben.”

Poe’s face broke into a friendly smile, “I would say that it is nice to meet you Ben, but obviously, I’d rather us both not be here right now.

Ben was momentarily distracted by Poe’s smile; the young man had such an inviting and kind face. Here they were, in the worst of settings, and yet the pilot was gracious and calm and so beautiful. He quickly forced his mind to other topics. “Did anything happen while I was unconscious?”

The radiant smile faltered and Poe adopted a serious expression. “No. I came to and found you, out cold, next to me. The hatch has been closed since I woke up. I’m not sure what type of vessel we are on. I just remember them grabbing you at the Senate Building and then radioing for help. I’m not sure how much of my transmission went through before they stunned me, though. Bastards.”

“We’re on a large transport ship -- I saw it as they brought me aboard,” Ben said.

“Do you know where we are headed?” Poe asked.

Ben shook his head. “I have no idea. I only saw the ship because I gave them the slip for a moment and got the hood off of my head.”

The pilot’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You gave them the slip? How the stars did you manage that?”

“I’m fast,” Ben answered, choosing not to get into the whole force-sensitive thing just yet. He shifted his body slightly and swore colorfully as his shoulder exploded in pain again.

“Alright, kid, slow down,” Poe scolded. “First of all, you have the mouth of a black market scumbag -- I’m impressed, although I’m sure your mother wouldn’t be.”

Ben grinned. “My mother has been known to swear in a similar fashion upon occasion -- normally at my father but also sometimes at our protocol droid, too.” 

“All right, then, I still don’t want you moving around until we can get your shoulder back into place. I can’t fix it for you without getting you out of those binders first. I’m going to look around to see if I can find anything to pick the lock with.”

Ben waited until Poe got up and moved away before looking down at the binders. He had opened locks with the Force before but that had taken a lot of concentration and practice. And, if he remembered correctly from before he lost consciousness, he hadn’t been able to connect with the Force since being hit on the head. Closing his eyes, he carefully reached out with his mind and found nothing, again. He tried not to panic. Maybe he needed to calm himself even more. Luke always said that his emotions hindered him when using the Force and that he needed to clear his mind to let the Light fill it. Keeping his eyes closed, Ben imagined only Light and allowed all thoughts of kidnapping, failure, the pilot, the pain on the back of his head, and everything else to drift away. Far in the distance, he could hear the faint hum of the other boy talking but then even that, too, disappeared. 

There were several long seconds of nothing as Ben relaxed before the Light responded and filled the void in his mind and rushed down his spine and into his fingers and toes--he felt his body arc up off of the floor momentarily--and the binders snapped off and his eyes flew open to take in Poe’s open-jawed expression. For good measure, Ben focused his attention on the binders constraining Poe’s wrists and those, too, came undone. Ben could hear himself panting from the intensity of it all -- he had grown so used to the Force always existing just beneath the surface of his consciousness that to be cut off from it and then have it slam back into his body was shocking and overwhelming. The wave of Light settled down into a regular presence in Ben’s mind and he sighed in relief. The Force was back with him and seemed to be staying. Thank the Stars.

“I have a feeling that’s one magic trick you can’t teach me.” The pilot’s voice was quiet, full of awe. 

Ben smiled slightly, pleased that the older boy was so impressed. So much for keeping his Force abilities a secret. The pain in his shoulder was returning but it was slightly easier to handle now with the Force on his side. Wait, he could tap into the Force again! He could reach out to Leia and maybe alert her to their location. 

“What is it?!” Poe asked, sensing Ben’s new-found excitement. “What’s going on?”

He ignored the question and closed his eyes again. Centering his mind around the Light, he broadcast his energy out into the space around him. He focused all thoughts on his mother--meditating and imagining himself as a beacon stretching out across the stars to reach Leia--and waited. There was no response. Eventually, he let go of the Light and opened his eyes.

“Any luck?” Poe asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Ben replied. “She didn’t answer but she may have felt me nonetheless.”

The pilot nodded gravely and then gestured to Ben’s left arm. “Let’s get that shoulder back into place before you kill yourself trying to give anyone else the slip. I’m going to have to pull on your arm and it is going to hurt a lot but then it will go back into place and it won’t hurt as much, okay?”

Ben nodded and gritted his teeth. He watched as Poe carefully moved into the small space between Ben and the wall and grasped Ben’s left forearm just above the wrist. “I am not going to lie to you, Ben. This is going to hurt. I need you to try to stay as quiet as possible. Will you do that for me?”

Feeling suddenly lightheaded, Ben nodded once again. “Go on,” he said. “Get it over with. I’ll be quiet.”

Poe flashed him another one of his fluorescent smiles. “Atta boy.” He grasped Ben’s arm tightly and tugged. White hot fire blazed in Ben’s shoulder. He struggled to keep from screaming -- clenching his jaw together tightly and squeezing his eyes shut as tears quickly formed at their edges. It felt wrong, like his bones were grating against each other. And then everything slipped back into the correct places and the unnatural sensation ceased and was replaced with a general throbbing.

“It’s done, buddy. You did great!” Poe’s gentle words of encouragement were soothing to him. “Can you wiggle your fingers on your left hand for me?” Ben did as he was asked. He couldn’t really feel his fingers moving because his arm was numb but Poe assured him that they did, in fact, move. “I don’t think you’ll have any lasting damage from that tumble,” the pilot diagnosed as he helped Ben move to a seated position against the wall of the hold. Ben felt something shift under his head as he transitioned to being upright. Looking back at where he was laying a moment before, he noticed that he had been resting on the pilot’s missing maroon Fleet uniform jacket as a makeshift pillow. Poe retrieved the jacket and offered it to Ben. “Here, kid, it doesn’t smell great but it’s better than what you’ve got on now.” 

A quick glance down his chest and Ben remembered throwing up on himself earlier. Evidence of that embarrassing event was plastered across the front of his shirt. He took the jacket from Poe’s outstretched hand and struggled to unbutton the high stiff collar of his dress shirt. Immediately, Poe was at his side to assist him with the difficult buttons. The older boy helped Ben out of the soiled shirt and into the clean and warm jacket. Even though Ben knew the jacket was only warm from his own head resting on it, the heat was comforting as the cloth settled around him. Poe wadded up the vomit-stained shirt and threw it across the small room and then he slid down to sit next to Ben. It was nice to have someone so close in proximity, Ben thought, but it was also nerve-wracking because the older boy’s side was almost touching his own. He was acutely aware that he could smell the pilot’s calming scent, both on the jacket and on the body that sat a mere inch away. Poe smelled like the forest and Ben breathed in deeply and savored the smell. Neither of the boys said anything for a while. The metal grates beneath them continued to hum as the ship sped through hyperspace.

“If she did get your message -- will she be able to find you?” Poe broke the silence that had settled over them for the past few minutes. “And who is she?”

Glancing to his right to look at the older boy, Ben was greeted with two intensely deep brown eyes returning his gaze. “My mother and, if she sensed my presence, she might be able locate me. I’ve never tried to call to her from such a distance before.”

“Do you know why they took you? Ransom? Retaliation?”

The question hit Ben hard and he couldn’t bring himself to answer. He didn’t know why he had been taken -- although he guessed it had to do with Leia’s politics or maybe Han’s shady dealings or perhaps even his own Force-Abilities -- but he knew exactly why Poe was here. And he knew what fate awaited the pilot at the end of the flight. The older boy had risked his life to sound the alarm for Ben and now he was going to be executed for his effort. Poe was clearly a smart person and had probably already figured out that he was disposable and only along to eliminate the trail to Ben. And yet, Poe was helping him, being kind and brave enough for the both of them. 

“Do you think it might have to do with your powers, Ben?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. They didn’t say anything that clued me into their motive. It could be any of those things. Look, Poe, I can’t guarantee that Leia sensed me so we need to make an escape plan. Now that my shoulder is back in place, I might be able to jump out of here like I did out of the the speeder’s storage hold. They will probably be expecting that but maybe I can surprise them…” he trailed off because a strange look had come over the pilot’s face.

“Your mother’s a politician and her name is Leia?” Poe asked. Ben nodded. “Leia Organa?” Ben nodded again. “Oh my stars, I can see why someone would kidnap you then.”

So the pilot had heard of Leia. That wasn’t terribly surprising -- he had been stationed at the Senate on Ejendrall. While Leia was no longer a Senator, her name was known across the galaxy after the Rebellion’s victory against the Imperial Empire. Ben had found that the individuals he merely considered to be his mother, father, uncles, and family friends were infamous far and wide. When their names were mentioned, people’s eyes lit up and they would share rumors that they had heard hoping for confirmation. Thankfully, hardly anyone knew the secret of Luke and Leia’s parentage. In fact, Ben had only learned that his grandfather had been Darth Vader a few years prior when he had overheard Han complaining to Leia about Ben learning the ways of the Force. Han was of the opinion that Ben would be safest as far away from the Force as possible while both Luke and Leia thought that no training would put Ben at even more risk as he clearly exhibited a high level of sensitivity in that area. 

It had been a life-changing moment for Ben, realizing that the blood of one of the greatest villains in recent history flowed through his veins. At first, he despised his blossoming Force sensitivity. It didn’t matter to him that Luke had the same abilities and chose to follow the Light. Ben had grown up surrounded by survivors of the Imperial Regime. Many of them had suffered unimaginable horrors at the very hands of Darth Vader and his twisted use of the Force. Vader had frozen Han in carbonite and tortured Leia for the location to the rebel base. He cut off Luke’s hand and killed Ben’s namesake, Obi-Wan Kenobi. He slaughtered countless other Jedi and Jedi supporters.It seemed wrong to embrace the same power that had caused mass genocide and so Ben told Luke that he no longer wanted to be a Jedi.

Luke had asked him a series of questions -- probing for the reason behind Ben’s sudden loss of interest in the Force. Eventually, Ben confessed that he had learned the secret about Vader and Luke surprised him by breaking into a rare smile. “I can understand why that knowledge would give you pause, Ben. All you have ever heard about Vader has been of the evil he committed. But he was once a Jedi -- a great Jedi -- and he died a Jedi, as well. Your mother only ever knew Vader as the monstrous devil who destroyed everything she held dear. Leia grew up with a father, Bail Organa. She knows that Vader saved my life and the galaxy by killing the emperor but that isn’t enough to redeem him in her eyes. I was there, Ben. He didn’t die as Darth Vader. He died as Anakin Skywalker and he was a hero in the end just as he was in the beginning.”

This had confused Ben greatly but Luke had gone on to explain Anakin Skywalker’s history -- from slave boy on Tatooine to Jedi Master and husband to the brilliant Padme Amidala -- emphasizing that Anakin’s downfall only came as he rebelled against the Jedi teachings and was seduced to the Dark by the Emperor. “We must learn from his story, Ben,” Luke warned. “The Jedi flourished from order and from careful management of their emotions. We must avoid falling prey to fear and anger. Banish those from your mind and focus on the Light. Focus on hope. On reason. On the inherent good of our galaxy.”

It was enough to convince Ben to continue in his exploration of the Force and the sporadic training that he received from Luke. He loved having the Force. It was an integral piece of him now and he was willing to work hard in order to keep it. It was difficult to keep his emotions in check all of the time, though. He found himself prone to bursts of anger during which he didn’t know what to do. When this happened, he wanted to lash out and throw things around him about with the Force while screaming at the top of his lungs. Instead, he would lay on the floor, struggling to breathe deeply, and meditate. The process unnerved Han: “It’s more disturbing than a Twi’lek malting,” he said once before shaking his head and leaving for the cantina. Leia always praised Ben after he successfully calmed himself down but it was disheartening to Ben that he couldn’t eliminate the bouts of rage completely. Luke assured him that with more frequent training, Ben would eventually master his emotions.

In his current predicament, however, Ben was finding it exceedingly challenging to remain truly calm. It was easier now, with the Force humming familiarly all around him, but he was still frightened and he felt incredibly guilty about Poe. The pilot in question appeared to be mulling over his new-found knowledge of Ben’s parentage. Poe ran his hands over his close cropped hair and sighed. “You’re Leia Organa’s son,” he wondered aloud. “I’ve got to keep you safe. I’ve got to get you out of here.” He scrambled to his feet, suddenly, and reached out a hand to help Ben up, too. “Come on, let’s scout this joint. It looks pretty barren in here but let’s check every corner. Look for control panels, any kind of circuitry, loose pipes, or anything heavy that we can pry up and use as a weapon.”

They canvassed the walls in opposite directions, meticulously observing every inch of the wall and floor of the large hold. The room was empty of any furniture or objects save for their discarded binders. The floor and walls were a hodgepodge of grates and metal panels. Unfortunately, none of them budged when Poe and Ben tried to pull them up. The only luck they had was with a round pipe in one corner that was mildly loose. Poe set to work tugging at it, leveraging his body weight against it to try to loosen it more quickly. It was slow-going. While the older boy struggled with the pipe, Ben tried to formulate a feasible plan.

There was no way out of the hold except through the hatch so they would, once again, have to wait to escape until the kidnappers returned. This would mostly likely happen after they landed, Ben mused. They were still traveling through hyperspace, he could tell from the vibrations under his feet, but they could drop out at any time. It was impossible to know how long they had before the ship landed. Besides, the crew would be expecting him to try and run as he did the last time. They would be ready and wouldn’t take any chances with him slipping away. And once they landed, Poe was as good as dead.

“We need to escape before we land,” Ben announced. Poe stopped his efforts with the pipe, briefly, to fix Ben with a skeptical look. “Hear me out,” Ben continued, “you’re a pilot, right?”

The older boy nodded, turning back to his task of removing the pipe. “I am.”

“You can fly anything, right? That’s what you were telling your friend back in the dining commons.”

Poe gave a low chuckle. “You have a fantastic memory, kid. I mean, I have flown a variety of crafts -- nothing too big, mind you -- but I think I could figure out most single pilot vessels.”

“Could you fly this ship?”

The question hung in the air for a long moment. Poe’s brow furrowed as he considered Ben’s question and, with it, Ben’s plan. Then: “Kid, there are going to be thugs throughout this ship. How the stars do you propose we get to the cockpit from here without being blasted into dust?”

“But can you fly this ship?” Ben insisted.

“I don’t know, buddy. If I can get to the cockpit, I should be able to figure it out. But they’re not just going to let me climb out of here and waltz onto the bridge.”

Pondering this for a moment, Ben brainstormed ways to cause a distraction. “What if I pretend to be sick and convulse and you call for help. Maybe they’ll come to check on me. They would have to put down a ladder to come in and then you could hit them with the pipe.”

“That seems extremely risky, Ben. And if I hit one of them with the pipe, they’ll just shoot me or close the hatch again.”

“Then I’ll use the Force and jump out of the hold and make them chase me around the ship. They’ll most likely not hurt me--not yet, if they’re looking for a ransom--and you’ll have less of them to hit with the pipe. Look, I know it sounds stupid. You study proper military technique at Starfleet but if I’ve learned anything from my father, it’s how to improvise a crazy plan and then implement it.”

Poe rattled the pipe, trying to break it free from the wall at last. His hands were bleeding from the effort, which made the pipe slippery and harder to grasp, but he kept at it. A little bit more and it should come off. “I just don’t want you to take any risks that you don’t need to take, Ben. I want to get you back to your mother safely.”

“And I don’t want you to take any risks that you don’t need to take!” Ben met the older boy’s eyes with his own and held them firmly with his stare. His voice cracked from the intensity behind his words. “They’re going to kill you, Poe, when we get to wherever it is that they’re taking us. I heard them say that when they were putting me onboard. If we land, you’re dead. And I’m not willing to wait for that to happen.”

Poe’s deep eyes bored into him and Ben realized that the pilot already knew he was going to die. He expected it. “Look, kid, I’m a member of the New Republic Starfleet. It is my duty to protect you.”

As far as Ben was concerned, that was a load of bantha shit. “And I’m a Jedi, so it’s my duty to protect you. Now, unless you have a better plan, we’re going to go with my idea. As soon as you get the pipe free, I’ll start making noise and you’ll start calling for help.”

“To review, your idea involves you force-jumping out of the hold to give them a merry chase and me storming the bridge to fly this ship, correct?” Poe almost had the pipe out from the wall. “Oh, I am also cracking as many skulls with this as possible, right?”

“Preferably, all the skulls,” Ben quipped. 

Poe laughed. “I’ll try, buddy. Now, if we are going to pull this off, we need to --”

His comment was interrupted by the sound of the lock on the hatch clicking and the metal being pulled back above them. Both of the boys froze in their place, gazing up to see a number of figures standing just outside the hold. The ship hadn’t dropped out of hyperspace yet, Ben observed, so they had not yet reached their destination. Little did that matter, though, because it was too soon in enact their escape plan. The pipe was not yet free which left them with no weapon to use. As the seconds wore on in silence, Poe straightened up to his full height, which was a few inches taller than Ben, and placed his hand on Ben’s forearm.

A rope rung ladder was dropped into the hold. “Send the boy up,” the figure in the front ordered. Poe pulled Ben behind him in response. The man from above tried again: “Ben Solo, climb the ladder and we’ll spare your new friend.” 

Poe didn’t budge, holding Ben behind his back. “Don’t even think about it,” he growled, quietly so only Ben could hear him. 

“Fine,” the man huffed. “We’ll do this the more difficult way.” He signaled with his hand and a giant of a man stepped forward and descended the ladder. Poe stepped back, forcing Ben to retreat as well. The giant advanced and Poe kept the boys edging around the room, out of the man’s reach. Suddenly, the man rushed at them and Poe let go of Ben, tucked his head, and drove his right shoulder into the man abdomen. The giant grabbed the pilot around the middle and threw him to the side. Poe hit the wall and slid down, dazed. Ben sprinted the opposite direction around the hold and used the wall to catapult himself over the man to land near Poe. The thug caught Ben by the ankle and dragged him back across the metal room. Lifted up into the air by his leg, Ben yelled in indignation and struck out with his other foot. He made contact with the man’s chin but the blow did not seem to phase his attacker. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement and then Poe had launched himself onto the man’s back, wrapping his arms around his throat and squeezing tight. With Poe’s entire body weight hanging from the his neck, the giant released Ben and attempted to pry the pilot’s sinewy arms off in order to breathe. Poe held on tight as the man spun around and then slammed backwards against the wall, crushing Poe between his back and the metal. He repeated this motion again and then managed to pull Poe’s left arm away from his throat. With a roar, the giant tossed Poe across the hold again. A moment later, a blaster fired.

Ben heard himself cry out as Poe’s body jerked as the blast hit it. Collapsing to the ground, Poe lay motionless, face down with his head turned to one side. Vaguely, Ben was aware that he was still screaming as he darted past the giant to kneel at Poe’s side. Blood was already pooling around the pilot, dripping through the cracks in the metal grating. He shook the older boy’s limp body and tried to find a pulse on his neck but his hands were shaking to hard to check accurately. “Poe! Poe!” he heard himself repeating in between sobs. He dropped his face close to Poe’s, guilt racing through him as he took in the sight of the pilot’s pale cheek and closed eyelid. And then, those long dark eyelashes winked at him. Just once, but Ben was sure he saw it. 

Realizing that Poe was still alive, Ben knew he had to keep the kidnappers’ attention on him and not the pilot. Turning back around, he turned his face into a snarl. “Murderers!” he screamed up at the men watching from above. The leader held a blaster in his hand. “You killed him! He didn’t do anything wrong, you bastards! I’ll kill you myself!” Real tears were flowing, coating his face. Even though Poe wasn’t truly dead, he was severely injured and he would die if Ben didn’t get them to safety soon. Ben stood and charged the giant, striking him repeatedly with fists covered in Poe’s bright red blood. The man didn’t flinch but lifted Ben off the ground and ascended the ladder as Ben continued to assail him with punches. Once he was close enough to lash out at the other men, Ben raked his fingernails down the cheek closest to him and started screaming again. “You’re all murderers! I’ll make you pay for this.”

The man with the blaster laughed. “Oh come now, Solo, you’re not that naive. He was always going to die -- your lack of cooperation just sped up the timeline of his execution.” Then, he spoke to the giant, “Bring the brat along. He is waiting for us.”

Ben continued to struggle as he was carried through a maze of hallways. Whoever he was about to meet was surely bad news. He tried to clear his thoughts in order to prepare for what was ahead but the image of Poe’s unnaturally white face kept appearing behind his eyes and dashing all attempts at inner serenity. A small flicker of hope did burn in his mind, though, because he was fairly certain that the hatch to the hold had been left open and that most, if not all, of the thugs were trailing along behind Ben and the giant. It wasn’t as if Poe was in any shape to climb a rope ladder with a hole punched into his gut but at least the pilot wasn’t locked inside an inescapable cell any longer.

Up ahead, at the end of the corridor, two sentries stood guard on either side of a large door This brought Ben’s tally of kidnappers up to seven and, of course, there was whoever was waiting in the next room. “Focus on the Light,” Luke’s advice rang in Ben’s ear. It was his uncle’s most common critique and Ben knew it was crucial in this situation. The door was open now. The leader instructed the rest of the kidnappers, save for the giant who still held Ben firmly around the middle, to wait outside. Ben allowed himself to be pulled through the door, ceasing his struggles in order to be better prepared for what was to come. The room inside was dark save for the luminescent glow that radiated from a hologram of a hooded man in the center of the room. As the door closed behind him, trapping him inside, Ben felt an icy wave of fear wash over him. It was unlike any that he had felt before. The hologram was shockingly familiar -- Ben’s first thought was that it was the Emperor, back from the dead -- and he shrank back against the giant. It was impossible that this hologram was the Emperor. Why would the Sith Lord stay hidden for so long and allow his regime to crumble into ruins? Everyone was certain that the Emperor was dead -- Luke had witnessed Vader dropping Palpatine to his death. 

“I have brought the boy, Supreme Leader, as you requested,” the man in front of Ben stated.

“Show me.” The voice was deep and reverberating, not at all as Ben remembered the Emperor sounding on old holotapes. The giant pushed Ben forward to the center of the room and forced him down to his knees in front of the hologram. Peering up at the figure before him, Ben was unable to make out a face under the hood. All he could see was darkness. “So much fear and anger,” the voice boomed again. “Your anger makes you burn brightly in the Force, just like your grandfather.” Ben flinched. The comparison was not one that he appreciated. “I will teach you how to harness these emotions, child. You will find that they serve you far better than a peaceful mind ever could.”

So his kidnappers were after him for his Force-sensitivity, Ben thought as he suppressed the urge to shiver. This was definitely more terrifying than being held for ransom because of something Leia said or Han did. This was no spontaneous money-making scheme; it was a well-planned mission with him as the intentional target. The man in the hood clearly planned on having influence over Ben’s training which meant that he intended on keeping Ben close. With escape out of the question now that Poe was shot, Ben was stuck. 

The man under the hood spoke now to the men behind Ben. “Bring him directly to me. Take no chances or you will suffer the consequences.” The kidnappers uttered reverent mutterings of understanding. Then the hologram returned his attention to Ben. “I look forward to meeting you in person soon, child. We have much work to do. Embrace your feelings and --” 

There was a sudden lurch of the ship that knocked Ben off balance. The hologram cut out and disappeared and the room was cast into complete darkness. Landing on the ground, Ben felt the change in the engine’s hum beneath him. They had dropped out of hyperspace and none too gently either. The floor underneath him shifted again, dipping as if the craft were making a last-minute turn. Ben grabbed onto the base of the hologram podium and held on tightly as he heard his captors tumble over each other into the wall and then the ceiling as the ship spun. His left shoulder protested, still tender from the earlier dislocation, and his muscles burned as he anchored himself to keep from sliding. What was going on? Was something wrong with the ship? Had Poe managed to get to the cockpit after all? It was clear now that the craft was descending. Ben recognized the familiar rattle of entering a planet’s atmosphere. The rattling became a heavy shaking as the ship continued to hurtle downwards at break-neck speed. They were still spinning wildly and loud creaking noises filled the air.

Whoever was at the controls needed to pull up in order to set the ship down safely, Ben thought. Surely the ship would explode if it hit the surface at this velocity. A deafening bang sounded and the craft evened out and reduced the speed of its descent. It still wobbled, casting to one side and then the other, but it was mild in comparison to the initial turbulence. Ben could feel the ship slowing as it lost altitude at a more gradual pace now. What had started out as a freefall had managed to become a fairly standard landing approach. Ben could feel the normal leveling of the craft that signified that touchdown was imminent. He listened intently to see if he could hear the kidnappers. There was no movement in the space around him and he assumed they must have been knocked out during the rocky navigational change. 

Then the ship began to accelerate again. They were too close to the surface for this to make sense. Something was wrong. Ben braced himself for impact, instinctively crying out in fear. With a jarring crash, the craft hit the ground, flipping upside-down and skidding. Ben flew into the opposite wall but was stopped from making contact with the hard metal by an orb of energy that he felt appear around him. It was the Force, Ben was sure of it, for he could feel a surge of power pulsing strong through his veins. Once again, the ship rose up in an unnatural angle and Ben tumbled to the side only to be protected from the brunt of the fall by the invisible shield surrounding him. Thrice more, the ship rolled -- cracking noises filled the air -- before the craft come to a stop.

Ben remained crouched where he landed for a few seconds. He was fairly positive that the kidnappers were either dead or out cold. It was still pitch black in the room and he was no longer sure where the door was. Reaching a hand out behind him, Ben felt the wall and began to follow it around the chamber to find the door. He tripped over an object on the floor and discovered the giant in a crumpled heap on the ground. Gingerly, he stepped over the man and located the door’s control panel. After a few tries, he got it to open and he was greeted with his first view of the wreck. Smoke billowed through the corridor ahead. The bodies of the two sentries and one of the other kidnappers lined the hall. That left at least two thugs unaccounted for, Ben quickly noted. Scampering along the passageway, he helped himself to a blaster from the tangle of guards. While he preferred using his lightsaber for weapons training, Ben was well versed with a blaster. Han had made sure of that.

Keeping as low to the ground as possible to avoid the heavy smoke, Ben tried to retrace his steps back to the large room that housed the hatch to the storage hold. Rounding the corner of the final corridor, Ben felt as though someone had punched him in the stomach. The hatch to the storage hold turned prison cell was closed. Had it been knocked shut during the crash landing or had the kidnappers locked Poe in there to die? He ran to the hatch and grabbed its release and pull upwards with all of his might. With a hiss, the lid sprang open to reveal an empty hold. Straightening up, Ben sprinted in the direction he figured the bridge was. Poe had to be in there; what else could explain the crash landing and the pilot’s missing body from the hold? Ben held his blaster at the ready as he dodged fallen debris and jumped over a few particularly large cracks in the spaceship. In one spot, the hull of the craft had separated completely leaving a gaping hole out onto the planet’s surface. Ben thought he saw green grass as he leapt over the miniature chasm. 

After a handful of more passageways and turns, Ben found himself the door to the bridge. He quickly tapped in the command to open the door but there was no response. Ben growled in frustration and keyed in the code again. Nothing. Catching himself growing angry at the malfunctioning hardware, Ben made himself take a deep breath. Focus on the Light, he told himself. After all, hadn’t he just created a forcefield for himself through the Force? Surely, he could override the faulty wiring now. Closing his eyes, Ben tried to relax. He placed his palm over the control panel and meditated. Still nothing. The anger roared back into his skull, white hot, and he smashed his fist into the panel and the door clicked open.

Ben raced onto the bridge. Three bodies littered the floor, broken in impossible angles. Ben quickly scanned the room and his eyes settled on the pilot. Poe was hunched over the controls, eyes closed and blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Heavy black straps held him in the cockpit chair -- most likely the only reason he hadn’t gone spinning with the rest of them. Ben ran to him and caught Poe’s face in his hands. “Poe! Poe, can you hear me?! Poe, wake up!” Scanning the young man’s chest, Ben saw the copious amount of blood staining the pilot’s white undershirt. Ben leaned in close and felt for a pulse. It was there, barely. He sighed in relief as he felt the slightest breeze hit his cheek from the injured man’s exhale. “Poe, hang in there,” he whispered, feeling his eyes fill with tears. “You did it, Poe, you landed the ship and you saved my life. And now, I am going to save you.”


	3. Naboo

Ben knew that there was no time to waste. Based on the force of their crash landing, it was a miracle that the ship had not incinerated on impact. There was bound to be an aftershock or explosion at any time and judging by the amount of smoke filling the bridge, something nearby was on fire. The relief Ben felt at finding Poe alive quickly dissipated in the shadow of the enormous task of getting the pilot to safety in time. The older boy had more muscle mass and a few inches in height on Ben and was decidedly unresponsive. Fumbling with the thick black straps of the seat harness, Ben located the latching mechanism and released it. His attempts to hold Poe upright without the harness failed and Poe slid sideways towards the floor. Ben’s efforts to hold onto the Starfleet cadet by the shirt resulted in slowing Poe’s descent only a little and left Ben’s hands slick with the injured man’s blood.

There was a deafening bang and the bridge shook violently. Ben struggled to keep his balance as he moved, once again, to the pilot’s side and rolled him face up onto his back. Tucking his blaster into the back of his pants, Ben tried not to think about how pale and deathly the other boy looked. Grasping Poe under the armpits, Ben began to drag the young man across the room. It was difficult work that required Ben to stay in a crouch, taking tortuously small steps backwards towards the door. The dead bodies of his kidnappers, strewn carelessly in unnatural patterns around the room, posed as obstacles to slow his progress. While his arms and back burned in protest of the weight of the pilot and the uncomfortable position it took to the move the unconscious man, it was his shoulder – so recently returned to its proper joint alignment – that left him hissing in pain with every jolt. The ship had momentarily ceased its vibrations but Ben knew more were soon to come. How far was it to the loading ramp? It was doubtful that that exit was even operational after the crash.

They were in the hallway outside the bridge now. The smoke was so heavy that Ben could not breathe without coughing forcefully after every inhale. His head began to pound with fury, his throat and lungs growing ever rawer, his face streaked with tears. The metal walls on either side of him began to spin as his brain was starved of oxygen. Poe seemed to be gaining weight with every step Ben took. There was no way he was going to be able to lug the older boy much further. He turned another corner and the smoke thinned ever so slightly. A few more steps backwards and then Ben’s foot swung out over open air. Catching himself before he shifted his balance, Ben managed to regain his footing on the edge of the hole. Looking down under his left arm, Ben was greeted with the sight of a gaping crevice where the metal ship had been pried apart. Green grass waved gently in the breeze under the charred carcass of the transport. Of course, Ben thought, he had jumped this very chasm during his mad dash to the bridge to find Poe. It was a considerable drop to the ground but it looked to be a much better escape option than trying to reach the loading ramp.

The trick was going to be lowering Poe to the ground without causing the man further injury. It was probably six feet down and there did not seem to be a graceful way to complete the task. Ben readjusted his grip under Poe’s armpits and moved past the pilot back up the hall the way they had come. Poe’s body rotated in a half circle until his boots rested a few feet from the precipice. Digging the balls of his feet into the metal grate of the hall, Ben began to push the older boy towards the hole. Poe’s feet and lower legs disappeared over the edge and Ben paused to position himself lower to the floor. As soon as the man’s hips reached the crevice, gravity was going to try to steal him from Ben’s grasp. He needed to be ready. Carefully, he began to push again sliding himself down onto his belly in the place that Poe was vacating. As expected, the unconscious pilot became dead weight the moment his hips slipped over the edge and it was all Ben could do to hold on tightly under the man’s shoulders as he rushed toward the grassy ground below. As soon as Poe was extended in a vertical position, boots dangling inches above the green carpet, Ben let go. He watched as the older boy’s feet hit the ground and he toppled backwards, motionless, his ass and shoulders absorbing most of the impact. Quickly, Ben jumped down next to him, landing solidly on his feet in a squat.

Ben cast his eyes around to see if there was any form of shelter nearby. There had to be somewhere that he could drag Poe so they could be away from the unstable ship and yet not out in the open. He had no idea what planet they were on or who might be around. He was fairly certain that this was not the destination the kidnappers had in mind seeing as Poe had hijacked the ship out of hyperdrive. That did not make the boys safe by any means, though, as there were plenty of rough and dangerous places throughout the galaxy that did not take kindly to outsiders. Perhaps, too, whoever the cloaked man in the hologram was might send someone to collect Ben or one of the kidnappers might still be alive to try to finish them off.

There were no signs of civilization as far as Ben could see, just a bright green meadow stretching far into the distance to be outlined by a range of mountains on the horizon. After determining no forms of shelter in the surrounding environment, Ben decided that the grass was tall enough to hide them if they both laid prone on the ground. It wouldn’t provide much coverage from the air but a speeder patrol or person on foot would not be able to see them. The key now was to get far enough away from the ship that if it were to explode, they would not burn with it. Returning to his position behind Poe’s head, Ben resumed his hold under the pilot’s armpits and began to drag him away from the wreckage. It was easier to accomplish out in the fresh air than in the confined corridors of the smoking ship. The pulsing in Ben’s head eased a little and he was left with the dull throbbing that had been present since he had been knocked on the head back on Ejendrall. Fifteen feet. Twenty. Thirty. Ben closed his eyes and focused on the Force to give his tired muscles strength. He was exhausted but stopping was not yet an option.

He could feel the long grass swishing on all sides as he moved ever backwards. Fifty feet. Seventy. Finally, he stopped – his energy fully spent. This had to be far enough; he could go no further. Gently lowering Poe’s shoulders and head back to the ground, Ben fell back onto his rear to rest. His body was drenched in soot and sweat. Never had he been this taxed in his life. He allowed himself a few seconds to catch his breath before moving to kneel to the side of the pilot. Clumsily, he felt for a pulse at Poe’s neck and watched the man’s chest to see if he was still breathing. For a long second, he thought both were missing before he shifted his fingers slightly and found a weak pulse throbbing at an almost imperceptible volume. And then there was the faintest of inhales as Poe drew breath into his lungs.

Ben turned his attention then to the bright stain pluming out across Poe’s shirt, staining the once white garment crimson. The man had lost far too much blood. Quickly, Ben peeled off the maroon dress shirt Poe had lent him earlier. Wadding up the material into a ball, Ben placed it on top of the blaster wound and applied direct pressure. He was glad, at this moment, that Poe was already unconscious so he did not have to feel the excruciating pain that normally accompanied such a procedure. Ben was reminded of the time Han had been shot in the thigh by a blaster wielding bounty hunter on a business trip gone awry. “Don’t tell your mother,” had been his father’s first response before directing Ben to hold pressure to stop the bleeding. Ben had been seven at the time and Han swore in at least a half dozen different languages when Ben held bandages to the blast site. Leia was successfully kept in the dark about the incident until Ben started having nightmares a few weeks later about Han bleeding to death. The truth came out and his parents had another fight before Han took off in the Falcon for a month.

The breeze brought Ben’s thoughts back to the present. The air had a welcome chill to it as it hit his bare chest, cooling his sweat and helping to bring down his temperature after all his exertion. Continuing to hold pressure over Poe’s wound, Ben mused over what his next step should be. Poe needed proper medical attention immediately which meant that they needed help soon. He didn’t want to leave the pilot behind but there was also no way that he could drag the man any longer. Besides, he would need to be quick if he was going to be able to find anyone to give them aid before Poe slipped away. There was also the possibility that the comm link on the wreck might still be functional. It was beyond foolhardy to return to the bridge but it might be the only way to obtain help in time for Poe to be saved. Ben could hear the downed ship creaking and hissing still, in the distance, threatening to combust. Dare he risk it? And then, over the noise of the dying transport, Ben made out the distinct sound of a speeder approaching. Someone was coming.

Ben flattened himself, quickly, keeping his hands firmly on the makeshift dressing atop the unresponsive pilot’s chest. The speeder grew nearer, its engine whining loudly on the wind. Whoever it was seemed to be stopping to observe the wreck. Ben took a deep breath and cautiously lifted his head just high enough to see the speeder over the tips of the tall grass that sheltered them. He was greeted with the sight of a Gungan wearing the uniform of the Naboo Guard. A large blaster rifle was slung across the lifeform’s back and he was speaking into a Comm link. A flood of hope rushed over Ben. They were on Naboo! He had been to Naboo before – the Queen was friends with his mother – so there was strong chance that this guard might help him. Rising to his feet and raising his hands above his head, Ben called out, “Help! I need help!”

The blaster rifle was in the Gungan’s hands and aimed directly at Ben in an instant. “Whosa are you?” the guard demanded.

“My name is Ben. Is there a hospital nearby? My friend is badly injured. Can you help?” The words tumbled out of Ben, shocking him slightly with their speed and desperation.

The Gungan moved his speeder closer – stopping a few meters away – and stared at him, “Were yousa on dat ship?”

“Yes, I was. Please, my friend needs immediate medical attention!” Ben gestured frantically down at Poe. “He’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Why did dat ship crash?”

Ben could feel his temper rising. There wasn’t time for this; Poe could be breathing his last breath now. Putting as much command into his twelve-year-old voice as he could muster, he said, “I need to speak to Queen Birella Hana immediately.”

His demand caught the Gungan off-guard. “Yousa want to speak to Queen Hana?” the alien repeated, dumbfounded.

“In person. Immediately. She will want to speak with me. My name is Ben Organa Solo. Can you get a message to her?”

The Gungan narrowed his eyes but began to speak into his comm link. Ben tried to make out what he was saying but could not decipher the quiet jumble of words. The guard engaged in a short exchange before his posture suddenly stiffened. The alien shot a quick glance back at the steaming wreckage and then looked at Ben with widened eyes. More discussion over the comm link. Faster now. More staring. The Gungan gave another reply into the device and dismounted his speeder. Ben’s right hand drifted down, curling his fingers around the grip of the blaster that rose out of the back of his pants. The other lifeform’s sudden movements made him nervous. With long strides, the Gungan closed the distance between him and Ben and held out the comm link.

“Here, yousa tell them what yousa spake to me.”

Ben kept his right hand on the blaster grip and reached out with his left to take the small device. “Hello?” he said, “My name is Ben Organa Solo and I would like to speak with Queen Birella Hana immediately.”

“Ben Organa Solo?” a hurried voice came back, emphasizing his mother’s maiden name.

“Yes,” Ben confirmed. His eyes narrowed as the Gungan guard knelt next to Poe’s motionless body.

The voice on the comm came again, “Son of Senator Leia Organa? The one who was kidnapped?”

“Yes. I was abducted from the Senate Building on Ejendrall and I need to speak with Queen Hana.” His gaze never left the tall alien who was now feeling Poe’s forehead and smelling his darkening blood.

A long pause on the other end of the Comm. Then, “The Queen is making arrangements to see you as soon as possible. A transport ship is being sent to your coordinates to bring you to the capital.” Another pause. “Are you injured?”

Ben blinked in surprise at the question. “Only a little but my companion is severely wounded – blaster fire – and needs medical attention. Please send someone who can help him.”

“Help is on the way. Stay with Sergeant Yarkon until it arrives.”

“I will,” Ben answered. “Please hurry.” The comm link buzzed as the other line went dead. Ben glanced down at the Gungan guard.

“Heesa hurt so bad,” Sergeant Yarkon said, concern etched across his face. The guard’s previous wariness had disappeared.

Ben nodded, feeling a lump rising in his throat. “Is there anything that you can do for him?”

“Heesa needs medicine.” The Gungan rose suddenly and moved to his speeder. Opening a trunk compartment, he removed a small leather case and brought it back to Poe’s side. Inside the case was an assortment of plants, a stone mortar and pestle, and a few vials of dark hued liquids. Yarkon quickly selected a handful of leaves and placed them in the shallow cup. He added a few drops of an oily substance and ground it together with the pestle. Ben watched carefully and tried not to gag from the nauseating smell of the mixture. The resulting paste was then placed onto a clean strip of cloth before Yarkon carefully lifted the soiled dress jacket off Poe’s wound and spread the poultice over the bloody mess underneath. “Now, weesa wait,” he said, solemnly, as he repacked the tiny medic kit.

“Is he going to make it?” Ben asked, unable to contain the question.

The Gungan shook his head. “I don’t know.”

They sat in silence for several minutes, each staring down at the unconscious pilot. Ben found himself willing Poe to hold on longer even as a nagging voice echoed in his mind sowing thoughts of despair. It wasn’t fair that Poe should die like this – especially with help so near at hand. It was all his fault, too. Poe’s death would be on him. The Starfleet cadet probably had a family – parents – who would have to learn that their beloved child had been murdered. Maybe he had siblings who looked up to him and were counting down the days until he came home on leave. Just a short while ago, the young man had been bragging to his friend about his flying prowess and now he was dying. The older boy looked so young as he lay on the ground and deep in the pit of his stomach, Ben could feel his anger begin to simmer. He couldn’t fix this. He had promised Poe that he would save him and he couldn’t do it. He was too weak. He wasn’t fast enough. He wasn’t good enough. 

“How long before they get here?” he croaked.

“Theysa not too far – help be gettin here soon.”

Hot tears welled in Ben’s eyes and he had to look away to hide them from Sergeant Yarkin. Soon would most likely be too late. He stood and moved a few stiff paces away. He was cold now, shivering without his shirt, as the breeze continued to cool his unprotected skin. His fingertips pulsed with energy and restlessness and he found himself grabbing fistfuls of the tall grass around him. Tearing the plants from the earth and then casting them back down to dry out and die, Ben continued this behavior as he simultaneously kicked the soft dirt with his boots repeatedly. It wasn’t fair. He wished, more than ever, that he had stayed behind on Nim Ordell with Han and then this whole mess could have been avoided. Or maybe if he had stayed with Senator Nahrim’s assistant, like he was told, he would have been safe and Poe would have been back in his barracks and not bleeding out in the dirt. 

The appearance of two shiny silver crafts on the horizon brought Ben back from his spiraling thoughts and ceased his destruction of the landscape around him. Help was finally here. The approaching shuttles sped towards them at an impressive pace, slowing only at the last moment and each setting down in the grass a safe distance away. Their engines remained humming as their gangplanks lowered. A dozen Naboo Guards raced out of the larger craft, most heading for the wreckage of the kidnapper’s ship and two making their way towards Ben. Behind him, Ben heard Yarkin rise. “Yousa made it!” Relief was evident in the Gungan’s voice. 

The guards rushed up to Ben and stood at attention on either side of him. A tall human woman exited from the smaller the ship, a captain insignia affixed to her uniform. Her hair was pulled back tightly and her face matched its severity. “Ben Solo?” she asked as she drew close, although it was clear that she already knew who he was. “I’m Captain Silfra. I’ll be taking you to Theed. There are medics aboard to see to your injured companion. You need to come with me.”

Ben glanced back at Poe and noted that Yarkin was already carrying the injured cadet toward the smaller shuttle. A look to his right, and Ben saw guards swarming the downed ship. He watched as a few of them slipped inside through the same crevice he had escaped from with Poe.

“They should be careful,” he said to no one in particular, “I think the ship may explode soon.”

“They will take precautions. We need to obtain evidence of who could be behind your abduction,” Silfra explained as she placed a hand on Ben’s bare shoulders, ushering him toward the loading ramp. “I will need to get a statement from you once we are onboard. Your kidnapping has the entire galaxy abuzz and everyone is determined to bring the criminals responsible for it to justice as quickly as possible.”

Ben allowed himself to be led up the plank, still flanked by guards and Silfra, into the waiting ship. The Naboo shuttle was not large but it had a sizable hold with plenty of seating. A pair of medics bustled around a medical stretcher in one corner of the room. Poe was laid out on it, nestled in the white sheets, his skin more gray than brown. His caretakers were busy attaching tubing to various part of his body and a breathing mask had been placed over the cadet’s face. 

“They’ll have a bacta tank and surgeon ready for him at Theed. The medics here will do what they can until then,” Silfra said as she grasped Ben by the elbow and guided him towards a bank of seats on the opposite side of the hold from Poe. She gestured for him to sit and then moved to a crate a few feet away and removed a thick blanket. With a tenderness that did not match her stern facial expression, she draped the cloth over Ben’s shoulders and gave him a soft pat on the back. “Who is your companion, Ben?”

“His name is Poe. He’s a Starfleet Cadet from Ejendrall.”

“And how did Poe come to be aboard the ship with you?”

“He tried to sound the alarm at the Senate Building when I was taken so they took him, too.”

“Was that when he was shot?”

“No, they hit him with a stun blast. He was shot about twenty minutes before we crashed – I’m not sure how long ago that was.” Come to think of it, how long ago had he been taken? It had been midday on Ejendrall when he had been snatched but time was impossible to track without a device when one travelled through space. Besides, he had spent some time unconscious during the journey. Judging by the distance between the two planets, the time spent in hyperspace was approximately five standard hours. It had most likely been less than seven hours since his kidnapping then but before he could confirm this theory, Captain Silfra was speaking again.

“Do you know why the ship crashed? Was Naboo their destination?”

Beneath his feet, Ben could feel the shuttle lift off from the ground and begin to accelerate. “Poe got control of the bridge and tried to make an emergency landing here on Naboo. He lost consciousness just before landing which is why we crashed.”

Silfra’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “How did he manage to go obtain control of the ship? Did he not have a guard?”

“I don’t know. They moved me to another room after they shot him. I think they thought he was dead.”

A pause. “Is there a chance that he was working with your kidnappers?”

Ben felt his jaw drop and his temper spike. “They shot him. He saved my life! He wasn’t working with them – how dare you accuse him of that?! He’s dying because of me!”

“There is no need to take offense, Ben. The news alert stated that it was likely that the abductors had inside help. It is my job to exhaust all possibilities and to ensure your safety.”

That made sense but Ben still felt prickly at the suggestion that Poe could have been a coconspirator in his kidnapping. He remembered the concern in Poe’s eyes back in the cargo hold and the warmth the older boy radiated even in their perilous predicament. The cadet had fought a giant with his bare hands to protect him. Poe deserved a medal not suspicion and blame.

“Did you know any of your kidnappers? Do you know for whom they may have been working?”

“I didn’t recognize any of them that I saw,” he trailed off, unsure of how to respond to Silfra’s second question. No, he did not know who the hooded man in the hologram was but he had an idea of why the Supreme Leader – as the lead kidnapper had called him – wanted Ben. But he wasn’t comfortable discussing the man or his motives with anyone other than Leia. The man in the hologram knew that Darth Vader was Ben’s grandfather. He sensed the fear and anger in Ben and wanted to exploit those emotions. Besides, what was Captain Silfra going to do with a description of a male figure in a black cloak and hood who resembled the deceased evil emperor? His mother would know what to do with that information and he would wait to reveal it until he was reunited with her. Cautiously, he decided to tell a portion of the truth. “The kidnappers mentioned that they were bringing me to someone but they didn’t say to whom or where.” Idly, Ben rubbed at his throbbing scalp. His fingers were met with dried blood matted in his hair and a sharp pain lanced across the back of his head. His resulting wince did not go unnoticed by Captain Silfra. 

“You’re hurt,” she said. It was a statement rather than a question and she did not wait for a response. Standing abruptly, the woman moved across the hold to retrieve a medpack from a nearby shelf. She opened it and removed antiseptic wipes from the kit. “Are you injured anywhere other than your head, Ben?” she asked as her hands began to probe the back of his skull.

He tried to shake his head but found it awkward to do so while Silfra held it so tightly. “No,” he answered instead. “Well, yes, actually. I fell and dislocated my right shoulder but Poe popped it back into place for me.”

“Does your shoulder still hurt?” Captain Silfra began cleaning the wound on his head and Ben hissed with pain. Not as much as that does, he thought. His stomach turned violently and he had to close his eyes to steady himself. “The stinging should stop soon, Ben. Breathe through it. I need to finish cleaning this so it doesn’t become infected.”  
Her tone was somehow soothing and matter of fact and he tried to follow her instructions and focus on taking deep breaths.

The intense burning sensation did begin to fade a short time later. He peeked open an eye and saw Silfra squeezing a clear ointment out of a bottle and onto a dressing pad. She noticed him watching and the corner of her mouth tilted upwards on one side. “This stuff is much better than the antiseptic, I promise.” Resuming her position at the back of his head, the officer applied the bandage to the wound. A pleasant tingling replaced the painful stimuli and, within moments, Ben’s scalp was numb.

“The odds that you are suffering from a concussion are high. There is a pill you need to take to reduce any swelling in your brain so that you can sleep without risking your health.” Rummaging again through the medkit, Silfra produced a small yellow pill and a tiny flask of water and offered both to Ben.

She waited to ask her next question until Ben had successfully swallowed the pill and drained the small container of water completely. “How were the two of you able to avoid injury during the crash?”

Again, Ben found himself circumnavigating the whole truth. Explaining how he had been saved by an unexpected Forcefield bubble hardly seemed appropriate or believable and was sure to spawn a whole new slew of questions. “I grabbed hold of something throughout the crash and Poe was strapped into the cockpit’s chair. I think we were the only ones who made it.”

“That is very fortunate. Did your kidnappers allude to the reason they took you?”

Ben opened his mouth to answer that they had not but words were suddenly proving difficult for him to form. In fact, his whole body seemed to be slowing down, his mind growing fuzzy. 

He felt Silfra’s hand rest on his good shoulder. “Stay awake with me, Ben. I know that this has been very overwhelming and that you are exhausted but I need you to answer a few more questions before you sleep. Can you do that? Are you alright?”

Ben realized he was shaking despite the heavy blanket around his shoulders. Relief at being rescued and the aftermath of his adrenaline spike left him weak and a little dizzy. His mouth felt dry and his skin damp. “I think I’m going to be sick,” he managed to whimper before he was hit with a bout of retching. There was nothing left in his stomach to vomit but his body continue heaving air for over a minute. All throughout this ordeal, he could feel Silfra’s thumb tracing gentle circles on his shoulder. “There, there, Ben. Deep breaths.” She sounded so motherly – just like Leia when he was ill at home.

He fought to comply. He could feel the weariness overtaking him, coursing up from his toes and filling every muscle, bone, and thought. Tired. So tired. 

“Ben,” Silfra’s voice cut through the fog in his brain. “Do you know who helped your kidnappers back on Ejendrall? Do you know how they transported you from the Senate to their craft? That’s all you have to tell me, Ben, and then you can rest.”

“I don’t know,” he mustered before slipping away into heavy slumber.


End file.
